Yet another flood :-Saturday 9th-Sunday 10th August 2014

Oh no.....

Another bloody flood!

Yep, when we arrived on Saturday - nice and early this time, Justin went around the side to turn on the gas and was faced with a gushing hot water pipe. He quickly turned off the water at the mains - which meant we had no water for the day, and then we had to find a plumber

While Justin was turning off the mains, I inspected the cellar.  As anticipated it was flooded again (like in July 2012).  About waist deep and as per the photos curiously slightly oily on top?

Flooded Cellar

Slightly odd angle - floating window blinds

So Justin brought out his device of the decade :- the submersible pump, and started pumping out the water into the bath

emptying out the hose

more emptying out the hose

We figured that as it had been literally freezing last Sunday (Remember the hot water pipe froze on Sunday morning, and we couldn't get any water out for a few hours)  - that the pipe had subsequently burst.  We were told that there had been very bad frosts for the next 3 mornings, and that Frank the plumber had been run off his feet as a result of it.

Dropped in at the Op Shop ladies to see if they had Frank's phone number - they did - and they also enthusiastically told me how they had seen me on tv that week - Million Dollar Minute and that the phones were running hot in Inglewood that night  I had also mentioned coming up to Inglewood and loving it - so that had to be good!

me - on tv

I guess they were also surprised to see me out of my customary overalls.

Anyway, that was all a bit of fun, and I won a spot cash prize which the tv host suggested that I spend on paint.  I would prefer to buy something more substantial that I can look back on and say - ahh - my TV winnings paid for that....But I haven't got the cheque yet

So, we got the number for Frank the plumber and he said he'd come over at 4pm.  Back home to the house and some of the butcher's terrific pies for lunch -out of my nifty little bench top oven.

After lunch there was the bailing to be done.  Yes the submersible pump is great - but it leaves about 15cm behind, so Justin used an icecream container to bail the water into a much bigger plastic tub (which we had incidentally used to catch the water up in the top hall when the roof was still leaking) We now use the tub for firewood. My job was to lug the tub down the hallway and outside and to dump the water on the garden wherever I saw fit.  Got quite heavy and tedious after a while.

Once we finished that Justin had case work to do, and I went back to do more weeding around the fruit trees.  Frank and his son came later in the afternoon to fix the pipe.  It transpired that it hadn't burst, it just hadn't been tightened enough - yet another reason to be annoyed at the original plumber - oh well! I guess its better that it wasn't broken as I assume it would have been more expensive, than what this will probably cost.

By this stage it was after 5pm, and too late to drop in on Maile and David before dinner with David and Arlene.  And luckily it was nowhere near as cold as last Saturday when we had to rug up with  hot water bottle and blankets on our laps to get warm before going out to dinner.

So we spruced ourselves up a bit before dinner and drove off to Kingower.

Had a lovely time (yet again) Arlene had prepared us a feast - home made pasta with a creamy seafood sauce for entree, duck with an orange sauce, potatoes and broccoli for main, and a superb cheesecake with lace chocolate and mulberry sauce.  And of course lots of good wine to wash it all down.  We were a little apprehensive as to what sort of wine we should bring to a winery, - coals to Newcastle.  I thought a bottle of bubbles wouldn't go astray, so brought a 9th Island, and also a bottle of Spanish Rioja which had been recommended to me at the Bottle Shop.

David said we should go morel hunting soon - as they know where to find them.  and that they go particularly well with yabbies - yum - a foraged Inglewood/Kingower meal. I look forward to it.  Although the photos of morels that I've seen on the internet don't make them look that nice in my eyes.

picture of a morel mushroom from the internet 

Got home around 12, put the bread on, as I wanted fresh bread for the morning and went to bed.  Woke up 7-ish and took the bread out of the bread maker.  Came back to bed and read for a little while, and then thought I'd try and sleep for a little longer,as I was still a bit tired.

Was very surprised when I opened my eyes again, and it was 9.50am!  I NEVER sleep in like that, not because I don't want to, but because I normally can't.  It felt very luxurious and decadent.

After breakfast, more bailing as of course more water had seeped back into the cellar from the sodden surrounding ground.  I guess we'll have to do this for the next few visits - until the ground dries out. BORING!

More gardening for me, and more case work for Justin.  I also assessed the garden for all of the frost damage.  The cape honeysuckle at the front, the cumquat and the lillipillies were rather badly effected.  I hope they survive

frost burnt - cape honeysuckle

droopy cumquat in amongst the greenery

frost burnt lillipillies